Witches, Wizards, What Else is New?
by HorseHat23
Summary: Percy, Thalia and Nico are sent to a magical boarding school in England. Chiron gave them one goal: protect Harry Potter and his friends. How will they do it? Is there more to Hogwarts and its students than what meets the eye? Rated T to be safe.
1. Warthogs, Hogwarts, Whatever

**Warthogs, Hogwarts, Whatever**

**PERCY**

Ah, camp. So peaceful. No interruptions on your day to be called to Big House and sent on yet another potentially suicidal quest, or anything like that.

You detect any sarcasm there?

So, as you may have guessed, quest time. Yippee. But let's rewind a bit first.

Picture this: me at a never-ending all-you-can-eat cheeseburger buffet. Ah, that's nice. Now, erase that from your mind because that is nowhere near where I was. I had been in the stables, talking to the horses because I had no friends. Just kidding. Almost all the campers had gone home for the school year, since it was late August, and I had decided to stay for a little while before school began. Among this crowd was Annabeth and her siblings, most of the Hermes cabin (except for the Stolls), and almost all the other campers, save a few old-timers like Clarisse.

Anyway, I was deep in conversation with Guido, having an argument about flying. Guido's definition of flying: happiness, with wind in your face and soaring through clouds peacefully. My definition: an electric death socket of doom.

Guido was just saying, _Well, it's not my fault you're uncle is a—_

"Am I interrupting something?" came a voice from the door, which probably saved Guido from instant incineration, courtesy of Zeus. The person at the door was Nico, looking at me in amusement. I guess from his view, I was having a one-sided conversation. I would laugh at me too.

"What?" I sighed, wanting to get back to my argument with the pegasus. Wow, that _does _sound weird.

"We're wanted at the Big House. Chiron says it's important," Nico said. I sighed. When Chiron says something is important, that immediately translates into an omen of impending doom. I reluctantly walked over to Nico, ready to see what Chiron had in store for us this time.

I paused at doorway, then turned and pointed at Guido. "This is not over," I warned him. He then tried to look all 'innocent pegasus', but I didn't buy it. Nico just let out a short laugh and tugged me toward the Big House.

I walked into the living room of the Big House, and, to my surprise, Thalia was reclining on the couch, picking dirt from her nails. She looked up when I came in and must've seen my expression.

"I have absolutely no idea," she said, answering my question. "Lady Artemis just said I was needed at camp for a while. Humph." She turned away and continued with her nails.

We just sat there for a moment, a tense silence in the air as we all wondered what it was we had to do. That uncomfortable silence was broken when Chiron, wheelchair form, came in and cleared his throat.

"You're probably wondering—" he began, but Thalia cut him off.

"Yes, Chiron, we are, but can we _please _not beat around the bush with this?"

The centaur sighed. "Very well. I will be straight with this: have any of you three heard of wizards?" Silence. "Well then. Contrary to popular belief—actually, _all _belief—wizards and witches do exist, primarily in Great Britain and other parts of Europe. They establish schools to teach young witches and wizards how to control their powers.

"There is one particular school among these that is special. It is called Hogwarts—" Thalia and I snorted. "—School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Headmaster is Albus Dumbledore, son of Hecate and an old friend of mine. He has asked me to send three of my most powerful students to come to his school to help protect one of his students: Harry Potter. Potter's friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger ought to be looked after as well. Do you accept?"

I blinked. Chiron had just revealed to us the existence of wizards and asked to send us on a quest across the Atlantic Ocean to a school named after Warthogs, all to protect three wizards we didn't even know?

So I did the natural thing. "Sure," I said, shrugging my shoulders. After a couple seconds, Nico did the same. Thalia looked at us incredulously.

After a moment she mumbled something along the lines of: "Boys are stupid", and said okay as well. Chiron smiled and rubbed his hands together.

"Good," he said, looking at each of us in turn. "You have an hour. Argus will pick you up and drive you to the airport—" he was cut off by Nico saying "_What?" _rather loudly, and me nearly choking. If I had had some water, it would've been a really awesome spit take. Pity.

Chiron just sighed and said he had gotten Zeus's permission, though he hadn't been happy about me entering his domain again. "You will be picked up in England by Harry's friend Ron's family, the Weasleys. You will be staying with them until the start of term, and remember this: you are exchange students from America. Your school is called Delphi School of Magic. Your headmaster is Professor Brunner. _Do not blow your cover. _Got it?" We all nodded after a moment. Chiron ordered us to go pack.

As I walked back to my cabin I was thinking, _I'll certainly have something to tell Annabeth when I get home. _I smiled in spite of myself and entered the Poseidon cabin. I had some packing to do.


	2. Airplanes and Embarrassments

**Airplanes and Embarrassments**

**THALIA**

I sat awkwardly in the Big House. Percy and Nico had gone to their cabins to pack, but I had all I needed in my nifty little Huntress pack. After a while of sitting on the beat up couch, I got jumpy and walked outside.

I stopped abruptly when I was met with the Stoll brothers right outside the door. They spoke in alternating sentences:

"Hey Thalia!"

"Whatcha doing?"

"You got called to the Big House, huh?"

"Why?"

"Did Chiron tell you something _important?_"

"Secret?"

"Wait, why are you at camp?"

I sighed. Classic Stolls. "Chiron called me here, smart ones," I said, slightly annoyed. "And _no, _I am not going to tell you what he told us about." The boys' faces fell. I strode away with a smirk.

I walked up to the top of the hill and sat with my back against my tree. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, the steady breathing of Peleus and the glittering of the Golden Fleece lulling me into a daze.

**#######################################**

I woke up to the sound of Percy and Nico yelling at me. I opened my eyes to see a pinecone flying towards my face. It hit me square in the nose. I glared up at Percy, who had thrown it.

"_Pinecone—face," _he gasped, doubled over with laughter. I narrowed my eyes. It was _on. _While he and Nico were still incapacitated with laughter, I gathered up some pinecones and launched them rapid-fire at the boys. Each one hit their mark; one even hit Nico so hard he fell over.

I was immediately answered with what sounded like an Amazon warrior call. "_EYEYEYEYEY!"_ I was pelted with pinecones, but I had a few more tricks up my sleeve. I grabbed a pinecone and lit it on fire with a small electrical shock, and threw it at Percy. His shirtsleeve caught fire, and he yelped and rolled around on the grass, yelling, "NOT COOL!"

I was too busy laughing to care. I looked over, and Nico was too. He reached his hand up for what looked like a high-five, but maybe he didn't realize he was facing the wrong way.

Our funtime was interrupted by a shadow passing over a section of the grass. I looked up, squinting at the sun behind the figure, and I realized it was Argus. His hundreds of eyes looked down on us disapprovingly, and he motioned for us to get up. _Joy_, I thought. _Quest time. _I heaved myself to my feet and Nico did the same. Percy took a little longer because he was still trying to snuff out the last of the fire on his sleeve.

"Aww, c'mon Thalia, you ruined my shirt," Percy whined.

I snorted. "Like you would care." Percy just shrugged and got to his feet. We followed Argus down Half-Blood Hill to the van and climbed in. I'll spare you the story of the van ride, because it was _painfully _boring. We finally got off at the airport. We checked in, and went through security, which involved a lot of sneaking and a lot of manipulating the Mist.

We sat at the gate for an hour, munching on snacks. Percy and I were embarrassing Nico to death when we decided to hang upside down from the chairs. Hey, a hyperactive kid's gotta do what a hyperactive kid's gotta do, right?

When we were boarding, Nico was sweating and Percy had gone pale. I just rolled my eyes at them a lot and kept walking. Thank the gods the rows were three across, so Percy, Nico and I could sit together. I refused to take the window, so I sat in the middle. Percy took the window seat and Nico sat on the aisle.

I found myself muttering reassuring words to the boys during takeoff. I blinked. Since when did I do _that_?

I konked out after the first hour or so, waking up after a while to see Nico had done the same. Percy's hands were clenched onto the armrests, and his muscles were shaking from being tight for so long.

I tapped Percy. He didn't move his hands, but he looked over at me. "Have you been like that the whole time?" I asked. Percy nodded and went back to looking scared. I checked the clock and almost choked. It was 5:30pm. Our flight had taken off at 11:00am. Percy had been like that for _six and a half hours. _I gasped and yanked at his arms. He didn't budge. I slapped his forearm. Nothing.

I finally grabbed his shoulders, shaking him and saying, "Perseus Jackson, snap the heck out of it!" I even gave him a tiny electric shock. He blinked and looked down at his arms. His expression became one of extreme concentration while slowly but surely, his fingers unclenched from the armrests. I saw prominent crescent moon shapes in the gray fabric where his fingernails had dug into it.

Percy was slowly moving his fingers, as if forcing them to obey. **(A/N: The Last Olympian quote!) **He looked over at the time, and gasped. He rubbed his arms some more and looked over at me gratefully. "Thanks Thalia."

I shrugged. "I try." Just then, one of those airplane _ding, dong_s sounded, jolting Nico awake.

"What?" He yelped rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Who's dying…" he stopped as Percy and I started laughing at him. He just rolled his eyes and pointed out the window, and apprehensive expression on his face. "We're landing," he said, a small hint of fear in his voice.

Percy groaned. "Let's just get it over with," he sighed, shutting his eyes tight as the wheels bumped on the ground.

When we finally got off the plane, Percy and Nico looked ready to kiss the ground (with much eye-rolling on my part).

We walked through the London airport with nothing but our backpacks. We searched the crowd for a while, and finally saw a group of people that had a lot of flaming red hair, except for a girl and a boy. They held a sign that looked something like this:

ONIC

SPUREES

IALHTA

Those were the letters in our names, with Percy's full name. The three of us ambled over to them and asked what the signs said.

The tall, redheaded man holding the sign responded. "Nico, Perseus—" Percy flinched at the use of his real name, "and Thalia. Are you them." I nodded. "Come along then," he said, motioning with his hand. After a moment, he stopped abruptly, and I had to slam my heels into the floor to avoid smashing into him. "I'm Arthur, by the way," he said, sticking out his hand. "Arthur Weasley."

I shook his hand, as did Percy and Nico. Mr. Weasley motioned to a plump woman next to him. "This is my wife, Molly," Mrs. Weasley waved. "My sons Fred and George," two identical redheads with mischievous grins smiled at us. "My other son Ron," he motioned to a tall, gangling guy, also with red hair. "And Ron's friends Hermione—" a nice-looking girl with bushy brown hair, "and Harry." Mr. Weasley motioned to a kid that looked uncannily like Percy: green eyes, messy black hair, around the same height. But I also saw some differences: Percy was tanner than Harry, Harry's eyes were emerald green when Percy's were sea green, and Harry had a scar that looked like a bolt of lightning on his forehead.

Then I realized: Harry Potter. Our target (sort of). His friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. We had our wizards. That was easy.

I stepped forward. "Thalia. Just Thalia," I told them.

Nico raised his hand in feeble greeting. "Nico di Angelo," he said simply.

Percy stepped up. "Just call me Percy," he said to them. "No Perseus please." I raised my eyebrows. Since when did Percy Jackson have manners? I shrugged it off and followed the Weasleys out of the airport and into a strangely spacious car, considering the small outside.

As we drove off, I found myself humming; _We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. _We were definitely seeing some wizards, but we would have to wait and see just how wonderful they really were.


	3. Exchange Program?

**sorry i didn't mention this before, but i have to incorporate the demigods into the third year at Hogwarts (13 years old) so can we just use our wonderful imaginations and pretend that Percy, Nico and Thalia are 13? Pleaaaaseee? Ssank you! :)**

**Exchange Program?**

**HARRY**

I sighed in contentment. I looked around the Burrow, happy to be somewhere where I wasn't treated like I was an atomic bomb waiting to blow.

"Hey Harry!" I turned as I saw Ron bounding down the stairs. I smiled and hugged my best friend. "Guess what?" Ron exclaimed as we sat down on the beat-up couch.

I was about guess when a voice above me put my words in my mouth. "What?" I looked up and saw my other best friend, Hermione Granger, smiling down at us from the stairs.

Ron sighed. "Hermione's here," he said. As Hermione came to sit down, she got a serious, secretive look on her face.

"What?" Ron and I asked at the same time. Every time Hermione looks serious, it could be either some new fact she found in a book, or predicting Armageddon.

"There's—there's going to be _new _kids this year," she whispered, like it was the most important thing in the world.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, _yeah,_" he said. "There are always First Years, Hermione."

Hermione shook her head, like we were missing an obvious point. "The new kids, they're in _our year_," she said dramatically.

I looked at her incredulously. "What?" New kids never come to Hogwarts in the third year. You get your letter when you're 11, and then go into First Year. That was it. "Why are they coming to Hogwarts now?" I asked.

"I have absolutely no idea," Hermione said, crestfallen. When Hermione didn't know something, it was a tragic day indeed. "But I do know that they're staying h—"

She was cut off by Mrs. Weasley coming down the stairs. "Harry!" she exclaimed, running to give me a crushing hug. "Oh, its wonderful to see you Harry. I'll get breakfast ready," she said, walking towards where some eggs were scrambling themselves. "I've got some big news," she whispered, winking.

Hermione snapped her fingers. "I bet it's the new students that she's going to tell us about."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, duh," he said with too much emphasis. "What else would she tell us about? The new edition of Floo Powder?" I blinked. I didn't even know they made new kinds of Floo Powder. When you stay with muggles, you get kind of out of it in the Wizarding world.

Just as the twins came down, Mrs. Weasley called us for breakfast. We all took a seat around the massive table, and dug in. I was on my third helping of waffles when Mrs. Weasley spoke up.

"All right children, I have something to tell you," she said, looking around at us with an apprehensive look on her face. "Hogwarts is going to have some exchange students this year." There was a shocked silence. Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat and continued. "They are from an American school, and coming into the third year with Ron, Hermione, and Harry."

Hermione had a strained look on her face, like she was restraining herself from jumping up and yelling, "I knew it!"

The twins finally got over their shock. "Exchange students?" Fred asked, mystified.

"I didn't even know we _had _an exchange program at Hogwarts," George said.

"Neither did I," I joined in.

"Neither did I," Ron said.

And, although it looked like she was in pain saying it, Hermione also spoke up. "Neither did I," she said quietly.

"There's one more thing," Mrs. Weasley said. I looked up. "They're going to be staying with us until the start of term." This got a mixture of reactions. Hermione looked excited, Ron looked surprised, and the twins got mischievous looks on their faces. Or maybe they had already looked like that. "We are going to the airport to pick them up later today. I need you to be nice to them," she added, eyeing the twins.

"What are their names?" Hermione asked, an interested look on her face.

Mrs. Weasley took a moment to remember. "Nico di Angelo, Thalia…Grace, I think? And Perseus Jackson."

Ron snorted. "Perseus?" he asked, like that name was the weirdest thing in the world.

Hermione whacked him in the arm. "Stop it Ron," she said angrily. "That's actually an interesting name. It's from Greek mythology, I think. A demigod hero was named Perseus."

Ron wasn't buying it. "I wonder if it has any connection," he joked.

"Of course he doesn't, Ron," I said, all this mythology talk making my brain hurt.

I had no idea how wrong I was.

(At the airport, meeting demigods)

We had been holding our sign up for about 10 minutes when we saw a trio of kids around our age coming towards us. There was one girl and two boys. The girl was wearing a strange mixture of elegant and punk style clothes. She wore a black t-shirt with the name of some band on it with a silver parka over it. She had on black camouflage pants and combat boots. She had short, spiky black hair that had a circlet of silver in it. Her eyes were electric blue, like they could shoot bolts of lightning straight through you.

The shorter boy on the girl who must've been Thalia's right looked kind of sad with the way he dressed. He wore a black t-shirt with a too-big aviator jacket and black ripped jeans. He was pale, with obsidian eyes and black hair.

They final member, the other boy, looked startlingly like me. He had messy black hair and deep, sea-green eyes. He was around my height, but tanner. He also, obviously, didn't have a lightning scar on his forehead. They stopped in front of us, squinting at our sign.

The girl, Thalia maybe, cleared her throat. "Um, what do those signs say?" she asked. I blinked. Those letters were in all capitals, really easy to read. Were they illiterate?

Mr. Weasley responded. "Nico, Perseus—" the guy who looked like me flinched slightly, "and Thalia. Are you them?" he asked, looking at each of them in turn. Thalia nodded. "Come along then," Mr. Weasley motioned with his hand toward the exit, outside of which the Weasley's flying Ford Anglia was waiting for them. Mr. Weasley stopped abruptly, then introduced himself. He motioned to Mrs. Weasley and introduced her, then the twins, then Ron, then Hermione. Finally he motioned to me.

"And Harry," Mr. Weasley finished. I waved a little, waiting for their eyes to shoot straight to my scar. But they didn't. All the Americans did was exchange glances.

The exchange students took the hint and started introducing themselves. "Thalia," the girl said. "Just Thalia." Apparently she didn't use her last name.

"Nico di Angelo," Goth boy said, waving feebly.

"Just call me Percy," my look-a-like said. "No Perseus please." Thalia looked at him, a slightly incredulous look on her face. I shrugged it off as we headed to the car.

There was definitely something different about these kids. I could feel it. And I wanted to find out just what.

**phew! that was long! so, whaddaya think? too boring? too slow? too incredibly amazing that it blew your mind to an alternate universe where i am the supreme ruler of all FanFiction? Hmm?**

**Please Review! Thanks world!**

**-HorseHat out**


	4. Are All Americans This Weird?

**Well, look who decided to update? Tis I!*cue British accent* I apologize deeply and formally for the lack of updating on my stories, I just don't got time sometimes y'all**

**So, here we have some Hermione action! Whoo hoo!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing**

**Are Americans All This Weird?**

**HERMIONE**

We had just gotten into the Weasley's car and started toward the Burrow when I had to ask my first question.

"So, what's your school called?" I asked, directing it to the Americans who were sitting in the same row as me.

Percy thought for a moment. "Uh…Delphi School of…Magic, right?" he said, looking at Thalia for clarification. She just rolled her eyes.

I was confused. "How did you forget you school's name?" I pressed.

Thalia answered this time. "Oh, Percy has a bad memory." Percy looked offended at this. "'Cause his head—is—full—of—kelp!" she said each word hitting Percy on the head.

Percy batted Thalia's hand away. "Bring it, Pinecone Face," he challenged, smiling and kicking her shin back. Thalia kicked. Percy kicked. Thalia kicked and punched. Percy imitated. It was about to become full-on car war when Nico, who was between Thalia and Percy, held up his hands.

"Slow down, guys," he said in a placating manner. "You didn't give me a chance." Nico smiled as he pointed to Percy and Thalia in turn. "Seaweed Brain," he said to Percy (what's with all the sea plants in this kid's head?), "Sparkles," he said to Thalia, who promptly began to strangle him while simultaneously kicking Percy in the shin.

I was just sitting a close to the window as I could, trying to avoid getting nailed in the face by a foot or some other appendage. Harry, Ron and the twins turned around from their row directly in front of mine, which was quickly becoming some cross between the name game and MMA wrestling.

For about five minutes the Americans continued their fight, all of us watching slackjawed as they delivered punches that looked like they could break bones, while laughing the whole time. The fight abruptly ended when the air began to smell like it does before a thunderstorm. I looked around, but I didn't see many storm clouds, only some far away.

There was a quick _pop!_-ing sound, and Percy let out an angry "Ow!" I looked over as best I could, and I saw a small part of his shirtsleeve gone, the edges smoldering.

"Sorry!" Thalia yelped. I looked harder and noticed that not only was Percy's arm burnt, but he had also been pushed all the way to the other window.

"Um, excuse me, but what the _bloody hell_ just happened?" Ron said, sounding apprehensive.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Looks like Thalia here needs some anger management," he joked.

"Big time," Percy added, rubbing his arm. "Wow, that was powerful, you know how hard it is to burn me." Percy winked at Thalia and Nico, like they had an inside joke.

I, on the other hand, wasn't feeling the love. "So you're saying _Thalia _caused that?" I demanded, gesturing to Percy's arm.

The Americans jumped and turned like they had forgotten I was there. I _hate _when people do that. I gave an irritated sigh. "Am I still here?" I asked to the ceiling.

Fred nudged my arm. "Be polite," he snickered. Meanwhile, I was looking at him like he had just sprouted an extra arm out of his head and an extra head out of his…never mind. After a moment though, he gave me one of those better-watch-out-or-I'll-put-a-firecracker-down-yo ur-pants looks, and I relaxed. I hadn't been transported to an alternate universe.

"Uh…yeah," Percy responded, sounding uncertain. "With her magical witchy-powers…" he faltered when Thalia gave him a look that could burn a hole through titanium.

Harry blinked. "You're not allowed to use magic outside of school," he stated, matter-of-factly. The Americans shot each other panicked looks.

Nico took a deep breath. "Oh, you know, American rules and stuff…" he trailed off, the rest of us looking at him, dumbfounded.

"In America you can use magic _outside _of school?" Ron asked incredulously.

Percy shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, that's sort of how we roll, like, democracy and stuff."

"Awesome!" Fred and George said at the same time, while Thalia raised her eyebrows at Percy, and I mentally did the same. Democracy had _nothing _to do with the Wizarding world in America. I furrowed my eyebrows in thought. _Or does it? _I was about to ask another question when the car screeched to a halt.

"We're here!" Mrs. Weasley announced, hopping out of the car. The twins stumbled out, heads together, no doubt planning a prank on the Americans, and I followed them after Ron and Harry exited as well. Behind me, the Percy, Nico and Thalia were slow to get out, having a conversation that was in a language that took me a moment to recognize. Latin? No, Greek. Why in the world were they speaking Greek? I cleared my throat, and they looked up.

Thalia coughed. "Right," she mumbled and climbed out of the car, Percy and Nico following suit. As they caught sight of the Burrow, their mouths dropped open in astonishment.

"How in Hades does that thing stay up?" Nico scoffed.

Ron looked offended and confused at the same time. "Magic, perhaps?" he said sarcastically. "And what do you mean by 'Hades'?"

Nico shot a look at Percy and Thalia, and they all simultaneously responded. Percy said, "It's an American thing…."

Thalia answered, "Camp joke…"

And Nico replied, "Family saying…"

I raised my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

Percy fidgeted. "It's an American thing that turned into a camp joke from one of Nico's family sayings," he sputtered suddenly. I snorted. I didn't buy that Hippogriff poop for a second.

Much to my surprising surprise, Ron nodded. "That makes sense now," he mumbled, completely believing Percy. He is _so _dumb sometimes. I turned and faced my friends, disregarding the Americans for the time being.

"Let's head inside," Harry suggested. Ron and I nodded and started towards the Burrow, the Americans trailing behind, talking amongst themselves. As soon as we were out of hearing range, I looked at the boys.

"Do they seem at all-?" I began, but I was cut off.

"Weird? Awkward? Violent?" Ron supplied.

I sighed. "I was going to say _odd, _but what Ron said works too." I directed this question at Harry, who shrugged.

"They were acting a bit strange, but you know, Americans, right?" I bit my lip. That could be all it was, but something told me there was more to these kids than we thought. After a moment, I gave up.

"Just keep your eyes open for anything…weird," I mumbled as Percy, Nico and Thalia approached. Ron and Harry nodded, and we continued inside.

We were greeted by Mrs. Weasley, who welcomed the Americans and had them sit down on the sofa. Harry, Ron and I were about to head upstairs when Mrs. Weasley caught sight of us.

"Don't leave just yet you three!" she called. We slowly made our way back to the couch, wondering what she wanted us for. "As you probably know, Hogwarts starts on September 1st, in three days. Tomorrow, we will be visiting Diagon Alley to get your robes and books and such." She stopped when Percy raised his hand, like he was in school or something.

"Yes?" Mrs. Weasley asked slowly.

Percy shifted in his seat. "We also have to get some, um, wands, I think," he said hesitantly. Meanwhile, my jaw hit the floor.

"You don't have _wands?_" I exclaimed. I probably would have said more, but Mrs. Weasley gave me a silencing look.

"Okay, we can take you to Ollivander's," she said dismissively. "I trust you all have a vault set up in Gringotts?"

The Americans looked baffled, but they quickly covered it up. "Chir—I mean, Professor Brunner gave us some money to use in Diagonal Alley," she said a little too quickly.

I snorted. "_Diagon _Alley," I corrected. These kids were getting weirder by the second.

"Well, that's good," Mrs. Weasley said, putting one hand on her hip. "Sleeping arrangements will be Percy and Nico with Harry and Ron in Ron's room, and Thalia with Ginny in her room." She dismissed us and headed to go make dinner. For a moment, we just sat there awkwardly.

Then, Percy cleared his throat. "Should we head upstairs?" he asked. Harry and Ron shrugged.

"Sure," I said, starting toward the staircase. As I walked, I shot Harry and Ron a look, then sighed.

This was going to be an interesting year.

**Ooh, suspicions are rising! I tried to make it different from most of the other fics I've read like this by making Hermione be the suspicious one, which I saw wasn't as common. Also, it just made perfect sense. We will have some friend-making and Percy awkwardness in ze next chapter, I'm thinking. Haha I get to make fun of Americans even though I am one. It's still fun though!**

**-HorseHat out**


	5. Wand-Waving and Otherwise

**I know, I know, you all hate me forever. I would hate me too. But alas, I ****_am _****the worst updater in the world, so, sucks for me. But do not despair! I have rewarded your long wait with an XXXL chapter! Yay! Enjoy your little minds on this one my friends!**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**Person: Who are you?**

**Me: I'm the Super-Sized McShizzle man! And no, I'm not Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling and therefore own nothing of importance in this story.**

**5. Wand-Waving and Otherwise**

**NICO**

_I don't like this. _

_ I don't like this I don't like this I don't like this. _

That was pretty much all that was going through my mind as I dragged myself up the stairs to that Ron kid's room. As I recounted our car trip, I sighed. We had been anything but subtle. And then Thalia had started a conversation in Ancient Greek about our identities and stuff and the girl Brit had heard part of it. Way to go, Thals.

I was snapped back to reality as I tripped over the threshold of Ron's room, falling into Percy. He then fell into Harry, who fell into Ron, and we all ended up groaning on the floor. After a second though, it turned into laughter. This continued for a while, until Harry took a few deep breaths and spoke.

"We should get your stuff put together," he suggested, gesturing to our bedrolls and backpacks.

Percy nodded. "Right," he said, getting up, only to fall back down again, wheezing with laughter. Meanwhile, Ron, Harry and I were watching him as if he'd gone nuts.

"Did we miss something?" I asked, looking around for something funny.

"No," Percy gasped, wiping a laughter-induced tear from his eye. "Just thought of something funny."

I facepalmed. Really Percy? As he got up, I heard him mutter, "Dam french fries," and shake his head, smiling. After a moment, however, his expression turned kind of sad. I was about to ask him about it when I heard Ron call my name.

I turned. "Yeah?"

Ron held up a long black object with a handle at the end. "This yours?" He asked inquisitively, running his hand over it. Harry was staring at it as well.

It took me a moment to realize what it was. _Styx! _I cursed mentally, then grabbed my scabbard. "Yeah," I muttered. "Thanks." I had to put that somewhere safer.

I was beginning to turn around to ask Percy if he had somewhere I could keep my sword when Ron yelled, "DUCK!" I was too slow. I instantly got nailed in the face by a pillow, courtesy of Percy. Said demigod was laughing his head off once again, probably at my stunned expression.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" he announced, and launched a new volley at me, but I was quicker this time. I grabbed one of them out of the air, but the other continued on its path only to hit Harry instead. I hurled my pillow back at Percy, which hit him square in the face. All he did was smirk and throw two more. Where was he getting all these pillows?

I ducked and the projectiles both nailed Harry and Ron, who were looking bewildered. Harry, however, seemed to be warming up to the whole 'pillow fight' idea **(A/N: I'm just going on the fact that Harry has never been in a pillow fight before because he grew up with the Dursleys)**. Harry picked up one of Percy's pillows and threw them back at their launcher. One of them hit Percy in the gut with a satisfying _umph_ sound, while the other went slightly off-target and hit me in the head. I responded with giving Harry a mouthful of linen.

I turned as just in time to see a pillow collide with Percy's face. I looked around, and saw that the launcher had been Ron. I gave him a thumbs-up, and he grinned back.

This is where the _real _fun begins.

oOo

An hour later, we were all breathless and sprawled out in different positions on the floor. Pillow fights get _intense_.

Harry was the first to speak. "That. Was. AWESOME!" He yelled at the ceiling.

Percy, who was hanging upside down from Ron's bed at the moment, nodded. "Best pillow fight ever," he agreed.

I just laughed. We were such little kids sometimes.

We all raised our heads, or in Percy's case, fell of the bed when a knock came at the door. "Come in," Ron said lazily. The door opened, and a young, 11-year old-looking girl stepped in. She had red hair and freckles just like all the other Weasleys, so I guessed this must be the Ginny girl that Mrs. Weasley said Thalia would be rooming with.

"Dinner," she told Ron. She looked up and seemed to acknowledge the fact that there were other people in the room. She regarded Percy and me nervously. "Uh, hi," she squeaked, then turned around and practically ran down the stairs.

I exchanged looks with Percy. "I take it that's Ginny," Percy said after a moment.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah," he said. "She gets kind of…awkward around people, you might say." Harry chuckled when Ron said the word 'awkward'.

We all got situated and headed down to dinner, where everyone was already seated, including Thalia. There were two empty seats next to her, and Percy and I sat down and stared at our food. We all exchanged looks. _Sacrifices, _I thought. How the Hades were we supposed to sacrifice? Thalia just shot us a look that said, _deal with it. _

I sighed. "Sorry, dad," I muttered, then proceeded to stuff my face along with everyone else.

Halfway through the meal, Miss I-like-to-get-in-people's-business spoke up. "What's your school like?" she asked, and I tried to hide my irritation. _Why the Styx do you care? _I thought at her. Sadly, she couldn't hear it.

Percy answered. "Oh, you know, school," he said lamely. Come on, Percy. That guy has zero social skills.

Hermit crab (sorry, Hermione) raised her eyebrows. "Care to elaborate?" she said obnoxiously.

Percy thought for a moment. "Nope," he answered, and shoveled in another slice of pizza **(A/N: Let's say that Mrs. Weasley made them pizza to get into the American spirit, mkay?)**. I had to stifle a laugh at the look on Hermione's face when Percy said that. It was like he had said, _There is a bomb under the table about to blow us all into billions of tiny pieces_ instead of just _nope. _

There was an unsteady silence all throughout the rest of the meal, broken by awkward comments from Percy, such as: "Is this pizza more Pizza Hut, or Dominoe's?" and "I think your clock is broken."

When we were all finished, Mrs. Weasley ushered us up the stairs to our rooms. Percy and I spread out our bedrolls and stuff and got cozy in our sleeping bags. Harry was on a cot at he foot of Ron's bed, and Ron was sleeping in his bed (obviously).

I stared up at a column of moonlight streaming in through the curtains. I sighed and put my hands behind my head, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Weirdest. Dreams. Ever.

All I could recall clearly was a dog, a wanted poster, some guy with no nose, creepy floating dead dudes in cloaks, and a guy that looked like he was a fugitive that had been in a ditch for several years. As I said, weird.

My eyes snapped open, only to be clenched shut again. I was not used to sudden sunlight when I woke up. Downside of spending time in the Underworld. I opened them more slowly this time, and they finally adjusted. I saw that Percy was already awake, and Ron and Harry were coming back to consciousness as well.

I stretched and yawned, making Percy jump. "Mornin'" he muttered, beginning to yawn as well. I heard two more yawns from Harry and Ron's direction, and tried to keep another one from coming. I failed.

Even as we were getting dressed, the four of us were yawning like we hadn't slept in days rather than just gotten up. The yawning died down once we went downstairs and started breakfast. It felt _so _weird to not sacrifice to the gods. I just said a silent prayer to my dad, and ate waffles to my heart's content.

"Alright, we should get going," Mrs. Weasley announced. Everyone else nodded like they knew exactly what she meant.

I looked around. "Uh, what do you mean by 'get going'?" I asked.

"Oh, yes," Mrs. Weasley said, nodding slightly. "I suppose you have never travelled by Floo Powder before."

Thalia knit her eyebrows. "_Floo _Powder?" she asked incredulously. I agree. What is with all these weird names?

Mrs. Weasley began to go into an elaborate explanation of how Floo Powder is used, most of which I tuned out. All I heard was: "Take a handful of powder, say your destination, and throw it to your feet." Easy enough.

Fred (or was it George?) went first, doing exactly what Mrs. Weasley had instructed. He erupted into green flames, then disappeared. That stuff looked disturbingly like Greek fire. Stepping into a fireplace, throwing powder at our feet, and getting engulfed in godly explosives to be whisked off to some Alley that was diagonal. Lovely. George (Fred, whatever) went next, followed by Mr. Weasley, then Hermione, then Harry, then Mrs. Weasley.

I looked at Percy and Thalia. "Ready?" Thalia asked, staring at the fireplace.

"No," I responded, and I meant it. Nevertheless, I entered the ash-filled prison, and took a handful of powder. "See you on the other side, guys," I said to my friends. "Diagon Alley!" I said forcefully, throwing the powder to my feet.

Everything immediately began swirling around really really fast and I felt slightly sick. I _definitely _like shadow-traveling better.

All I could do was just shut my eyes tight and wait for it to be over. Fortunately, it didn't take long. Before I knew it, I was coughing up ash, lying on the floor of a room crowded with people and fireplaces, all erupting in green flames. I blinked a couple times and saw a hand above me, offering help, and I accepted it.

Turns out, it was Harry. "Thanks," I said/coughed. The air was so thick with ash I could practically feel it. In the next five minutes we finally stepped out of that place, which I learned was the Floo Travel Room (FTR), and into the bright sunlight. Once again, sunlight=the bane of my existence.

We wondered around for a while, going in to various stores and getting things from books to caldrons to quills and parchment. Seriously? We have to write with _quills? _We'll be lucky if we could write at all! And all the fancy script everything was written in did not help in the least.

Near the end of our journey, we stopped in front of a narrow, shabby old shop. In peeling gold letters, the sign said, Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 B.C. I coughed. B.C.? Ha, ha. Very funny little wizard people.

I looked around me, and noticed that it was now only Percy, Thalia, Harry, and me. Then I remembered that the other Weasleys and Hermione were spending some time talking with Hermione's parents, who were mortals, sorry, _muggles. _What _is _up with all these weird names?

I was startled out of my thoughts by an old man appearing on a ladder and staring down at the four of us. "What have we here?" he questioned. His voice sounded like one that would belong to a 50-year old chair if it could talk. It creaked and crackled just like old wood.

"E—exchange students," I answered, not shaky at all. Wow, couldn't even fool myself.

The old man (I'm guessing he's Ollivander) raised an eyebrow, but let it go. He rolled away on his fun little ladder, to return moments later with a long, narrow box in his hand, which he extended towards Thalia. "Ladies first," I muttered mockingly, and she responded by stepping on my foot when no one else was looking, Thalia has a real talent of never getting caught when she's doing something mean to someone else. It gets so _annoying._

Nevertheless, Thalia accepted the box, and pulled out a long stick. Percy snorted at the sight of it. _This _was the almighty weapon of the Wizarding world? It's definitely going to take some getting used to.

"Hawthorne and dragon heartstring, thirteen inches, rather firm," Ollivander recited.

I knit my eyebrows and turned to Harry, who seemed to know what I was going to ask. "It's what the wand is made of," he explained. "For example, my wand is eleven inches long, made of holly with a phoenix feather core. The core is where the wand gets its power. The rarest core here is unicorn hair. I think you can imagine why."

Percy and I nodded in understanding. I turned around just in time for a glass vase to explode into a million pieces, the water flowing out and onto the floor. I immediately turned to Percy, but he just pointed accusingly at Thalia.

"Oh, that's alright, we'll find one somewhere for you," he said, and rolled away on his ladder of magical possibilities.

Thalia had to try so many wands. So. Many. I was ready to explode along with every vase in the room by the time Ollivander came out with the 25th one.

He handled the box with care, as if it were dynamite, and set it down softly on the counter. "I wonder…" he muttered, and handed the wand to Thalia. "Twelve inches, wood from a Bonsai tree. Temperamental," he said quietly.

As soon as Thalia waved the wand, thunder rumbled, and there was a sudden flash of lightning. I looked outside, and saw that in a matter of a minute or so, the sky had become completely overcast with storm clouds. Lightning flashed again, but rain didn't fall.

Ollivander was basically shaking now. "This is your wand," he whispered.

Then, Harry walked forward. "Er, Mr. Ollivander, you didn't tell her the core," he stated, staring in confusion at the old man.

"That is because there is none, Mr. Potter," Ollivander told a bewildered Harry. "That's where the power—"

Ollivander cut him off. "The power, Harry, comes from the wielder alone." Harry looked like he was trying to swallow a mouse when Ollivander said this. I, on the other hand, was thinking of ways to explain this. Not soon enough. Ollivander looked at us, awe present in his expression. "Then that would mean you are—"

"Special!" Thalia cut in. "Yes, we're special. So, Percy should get his wand now, right? Yeah, get your wand Percy," she said, ushering Percy towards the counter. Meanwhile, Harry looked like that mouse was putting up a fight.

Ollivander looked at Percy with awe and confusion evident on his face, and turned to find him a wand. In a minute or two, the old man came back, holding a box that was a deep purple color. From it he withdrew a long, dark wand. "Ash, fourteen inches, unicorn hair. Supple," he announced, handing Percy the wand.

As soon as the stick touched his hand, however, almost every drawer within a ten-foot radius of Percy burst open and spit out its contents. Ollivander shook his head so hard as he took away the wand I was afraid it might fall off.

After a few more tries, Ollivander seemed to relent, and got Percy a coreless wand like Thalia's. Out of a sea green box he pulled a pale wand, with carvings on it I couldn't quite make out. "White Pine driftwood, eleven inches, light." When Percy waved it, there was a sudden gust of wind in the shop, and I caught the smell of the ocean on the breeze. Percy closed his eyes and breathed deeply. A smile spread across his face and he looked back at the wand maker.

Ollivander nodded approvingly and put the wand back in its box. He then handed it to Percy, who sat back down. Ollivander beckoned me forward. I obliged hesitantly, and by the time I was at the counter he was returning with a pitch black box in his grip. He pulled a dark wand out of it and looked at it for a moment. "Poplar, thirteen inches, stiff," he said quietly, and then handed me the wand.

The room seemed to darken for a moment. I mean, it had already gotten darker when the storm clouds gathered (thanks, Thals), but the shadows seemed to expand. I felt a little more comfortable like that. Something familiar. The temperature also seemed to rise briefly, and then drop back to what it was. Ollivander nodded and handed me the box.

Everyone was silent for a moment. "That's 30 Galleons total," Ollivander put out. I racked my brain to remember which ones the Galleons were. I took a wild guess and went for the silver ones, but Harry corrected me.

"The silver ones are Sickles," he told me, pointing to the silver coins in my hand. "The golden ones are Galleons." I nodded and took a handful of the kind he pointed out, and counted thirty out of them. They reminded me of smaller golden drachmas.

We paid for our wands and started outside. I tried to disregard it, but I could feel Harry's gaze upon the three of us.

Gods, this is hard already.


	6. I Screw Up (Twice)

**I return! I know, completely unreasonable wait, you all hate me, etc. BUT DOCTOR WHO DOES THAT TO A PERSON. Its. Just. So. Amazing. And sad. And heartwrenching. And incredible. And life-ruining. Mofatt just loves hurting people emotionally, doesn't he? And I just finished season 4...David! Don't go! And now I have to wait till November to see 10 and Rose again...just STAHP. *shakes fist at the sky* MOFATT.**

**So, enough about me! enjoy your chapta y'all! By ze way, I do not own either of these stories. Just in case you though I was Rick and J.K. undercover. That would be so cool if I was...**

**6. I Screw Up (Twice)**

**PERCY**

The minute I entered Ron's room at the Burrow, I collapsed. My brain was thoroughly exhausted from all the wizardy stuff I was expected to learn. Actually, that was the stuff I was supposed to already _know. _How had Chiron expected us to get to know everything in such a short period of time? We were leaving for Hogwarts in two days, for Zeus's sake! I thought about Iris-Messaging Annabeth to see if she could be of any help, but before I could do anything, Harry and Ron walked in, with Nico close behind.

"Oh, hey Percy," Harry said, nodding in my direction. I raised a couple of my fingers to let him know I heard him without looking up. I could hear Harry hesitate for a moment, like he was about to say something, but then he continued over to Ron's bed, where his friend sat. They then began an animated conversation that contained a lot of words like, 'muggles', 'Dumbledore', and 'Hogsmeade'. At this point, I didn't even want to know.

Nico sat on the ground next to me. I kept my eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Gods," he sighed. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

I let out a halfhearted laugh. "We'll never last the year. We're hopeless."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Captain Sunshine. That really helps."

I opened my mouth to argue, but I saw something move in the corner of my eye. I sat up and looked through the window. A flicker of movement caught my eye, and I focused on a dark shape at the crest of a hill near the Burrow. It looked like a man, but from here I couldn't be completely sure. For a moment, I could've sworn he was looking at me. Then he vanished, melting into shadows.

I blinked. "Percy?" Nico was studying me with an expression of mild curiosity. "You okay?"

I shook my head, trying to clear the fogginess that had been in my mind all afternoon. "I'm fine." I lay back down again and closed my eyes, only to see that dark silhouette imprinted on the backs of my eyelids. I covered my face with my arm, somehow thinking that it would help.

It didn't.

So I was basically half conscious for an hour or two, drifting in between sleep and wakefulness. I was jolted out of this state by Ginny, who alerted us for dinner like she had the night before. She still seemed kind of skittish around Thalia, Nico and me, but hey, who could blame her? Pinecone Face and Death Breath aren't the friendliest looking of people. As for me, well, I was just glad I hadn't blown anything up yet.

The four of us headed downstairs and took our seats around the table, sitting where we had yesterday. Every time we ate food without sacrificing to the gods, I got more and more worried that I would be incinerated in the middle of the meal. Demigod problems are so weird.

Tonight, Mrs. Weasley had made spaghetti and meatballs, which I proceeded to shovel onto my plate and into my mouth. I don't know what it is with food, but I never quite get that feeling when I'm 'full'. Is that bad? Anyway, my third helping of meatballs paused on their way to my plate when Hermione (that's her name, right?) spoke up. "So, what kinds of spells do you learn at Delphi School of Magic?"

I froze. I shot a glance at Nico, who immediately looked at Thalia. I followed suit, and she gave us a look worthy of a drakon before turning to Hermione. "Um, you know, making things fly around, shooting sparks, stuff like that."

Hermione didn't look convinced. "What are they called? I've always wondered if Americans had different names for their spells."

Thalia glanced at me, her expression screaming, _help me! _I bit my lip and thought of all the nonsense words I knew. "Oh, you know…" I started, having no idea what to say. "Hepouiliosus, wibbly wobbly, timey wimey…" I mumbled some more senseless stuff before ending with, "abra kedabra!"

Immediately, I was met with gasps from the Weasleys. They all looked at me like I had just proclaimed the end of the world. I blinked, looking at Nico and Thalia, who looked just as worried as I was, and then at Harry and Hermione, who respectively looked like they were trying not to laugh or they suspected something. At the moment, I was too confused about the Weasleys' reaction to be concerned with Hermione's. Finally, Ron broke the uneasy silence. "They taught you the killing curse?" he breathed.

Crap.

"Oh, no! Professor Brunner would never want us to kill anyone!" Thalia yelped quickly. Ron's expression turned from shock to disbelief.

"But you said—" his voice dropped to a barely audible whisper, "_Avada Kedavra."_

I tilted my head. "I said what now?"

"It's one of the Unforgivable Curses. It's forbidden, because it will kill anyone it's used on," Ron explained.

Thalia, Nico and I looked at each other, trying to it piece it together. And, at the same time, we all came to realization, and burst into laughter, along with Harry, who apparently couldn't hold it in any longer. Hermione hesitantly joined in, the fact that she didn't want to laugh with us evident. Meanwhile, the Weasleys were staring at us like we had just blown up a country. "They said _Abra Kadabra," _Harry explained after finishing his laughter. "It's a muggle thing, it's what children say when they're waving a stick around pretending to cast spells and do magic, things like that. _Not _the Killing Curse." Every redhead at the table looked at us disbelievingly, reproachful looks on their faces.

Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "That's terrible!" at the same exact time Mr. Weasley leaned across the table with a curious expression, saying, "Fascinating!" Immediately, Mr. Weasley looked at his wife, who glared daggers at the man. He instantly corrected himself. "I mean, who would ever do that? It's simply unheard of!"

I tried to conceal a smile at that. These Weasleys were interesting people indeed.

The rest of the meal went on pretty much without disruption, except for when I got really jumpy and caused the faucet to start spraying water everywhere. That caused me to get several death glares, courtesy of Thalia and Nico.

After everybody was done eating, all of us headed upstairs to get some sleep. Nico was out within a half hour, but I couldn't get to sleep. I got that that feeling when I really just want to go to bed, but every time I close my eyes it's just like: UNICORN RAINBOW PINEAPPLE AUNT SUE WONDER WHAT SHE'S DOING FOR CHRISTMAS WOW I SHOULD REALLY GET ON THE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE et cetra.

Needless to say, I was having a rough night.

Until, around 3:00am, I heard voices from the direction of Ron's bed. It took me a moment, but I was just able to make out what they were saying.

"…faucet explosion?"

"What about it?"

"Well, what if one of them made it happen?"

Crap. I listened harder, still feigning sleep. "Don't be ridiculous, Ron. How could they have made that happen without a spell? I remember, none of their mouths moved, I was watching their lips—oh, that sounds a bit weird—"

Ron cut him off. "But they didn't have wands! And didn't you say their wands don't have cores? That could be really powerful dark magic—"

"Oh, please," Harry sighed, "not again with the Death Eater stuff. If Voldemort had sent them to kill me, they would've done it by now, don't you think? Just give it a rest."

Ron seemed reluctant, but gave a defeated sigh. "Whatever. I'm going back to sleep. G'night."

"Night," Harry responded sleepily. Someone shifted in their bed, but it was quiet otherwise. Meanwhile, my mind was going a million miles an hour. We had to be waaaaaaay more careful. I made up my mind that I would talk to both Nico and Thalia tomorrow. I turned on my side and closed my eyes, hoping for some sleep. No such luck.

It was a long, long night.

oOo

The day before our departure to Hoggy Warts (I had taken to calling it that) was rather uneventful, except for the excessive packing and frantic running around looking for stuff. Thalia, Nico and I were done within an hour, since most of our stuff was already packed, and so were Harry and Hermione for the same reason. Ron didn't have any spare time since he was freaking out looking for his school robes, so the five of us decided to go outside for a bit, just to get away from the chaos.

After we had done one lap around the house, Harry suggested we get some broomsticks. Hermione immediately looked wary, whilst us three demigods shared looks of confusion. "What are we gonna do with them, sweep the yard?" Thalia asked dubiously. I was about to ask something similar, when I remembered Diagon Alley, and how there were lots of kids drooling over a shmancy broomstick called a "Firebolt".

Harry raised his eyebrows at Thalia. "We're going to play Quidditch, of course."

All these weird words were making my brain hurt. I think I could say the same for Nico and Thals, who had exasperated looks on their faces. "What exactly _is _Quidditch?" I asked, knowing it would probably sound stupid to him. And it did.

Harry's mouth dropped open briefly, but he covered up his surprised expression as best he could, unlike Hermione, who just glared. "So, er, you don't have Quidditch in America?"

I quickly shook my head. "Nope." Wow, if I had a dime for every time I'd blamed something on America these past couple days, I'd be flippin' rich. I was about to ask what exactly you did in Quidditch when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I turned towards it, squinting against the afternoon sun. For a second, I saw nothing. Then, at the top of a hill, I saw a figure. I don't know how I knew, but I was positive it was the same figure that I saw last night. Also like last night, for a moment I felt the heat of the figure's gaze on me. I took a step toward it, but felt Thalia's hand on my shoulder. Or was it Nico's? No, Nico's hand was smaller than the one I felt, it had to be Thalia. Right?

"You okay?" Nope. It was Nico. I tore my eyes away from the figure for a moment, and motioned for him to look.

"Don't you see it?" I asked him.

"See what?" Thalia's voice. Harry wasn't far behind her when they came over to me and Nico.

"The figure…" I trailed off when I looked back at the hill. It was gone.

oOo

I grit my teeth as the car bumped along the London roads. Being contained in a small crowded space for a long period of time was not doing anything to help my ADHD. I felt like throwing a party when I saw the mass of King's Cross Station in front of us.

Everybody filed out of the little car and grabbed his or her luggage and we all followed Mrs. Weasley into the station. I gripped my train ticket firmly in my left hand, my right one in my pocket, subconsciously clenching and unclenching around Riptide, my lethal ballpoint pen. Nico, Thalia, and I didn't have big trunks like everyone else, since those would've been a major pain to get on the airplane and everything. Chiron had given us some enchanted backpacks that were bigger on the inside, so we could keep everything we needed in there. And, also, they wouldn't weigh us down if we had to make a quick getaway.

Mrs. Weasley herded us all as we wandered through the station. I looked at my ticket, trying to make sense of all the letters and numbers on it. When I finally did, I let out a bark of laughter, which, thankfully, the wizards couldn't hear over the din of the station. My demigodly companions, however could hear it, and looked at me with puzzled expressions. I held my ticket in front of their faces. "It says platform 9 ¾!" I told them. Thalia laughed a bit, and Nico cracked a small smile. It hadn't done much to ease the tension, though. We were all nervous. This was really it. We had to step up our game now, bigtime.

We arrived at platform 9, but I saw no trace of any 9 ¾. I looked at Mrs. Weasley, but she was already one step ahead of me. "To get to platform 9 ¾," she explained, "you need to run straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10."

I stared. "Really?"

She nodded cheerfully. "Here, Fred, George, you demonstrate."

They nodded. "Our pleasure," they said in unison. Fred lined himself up with the wall (or was it George?) and ran straight for it, George (Fred?) not far behind. I couldn't stop myself from wincing as they…didn't run into the wall? They just…vanished. Gone. Zippo. No longer present.

_WHAT?_

Harry went next, followed by Hermione, then Ginny, who went with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. And then there was us. I looked at my friends. Thalia's face was tight with anticipation, and Nico looked even gloomier than usual. "I nominate Percy to go first," Thalia said quickly.

Nico nodded. "Me too."

I sighed and threw my hands in the air. "You guys just hate me, don't you?" Not waiting for their response, I turned and ran at the brick wall. Aw, man. I was hoping that was a sentence I would never have to say. I got closer, closer, closer…I took the last step, closing my eyes for the impact…that never came. I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a huge scarlet train with the words Hogwarts Express on the front. Everywhere, wizards hustled about, saying their last goodbyes, making sure they had everything for the school year, scampering onto the train to get seats.

I was too busy looking around that I didn't notice Thalia hurtling out from the brick wall behind me, nearly knocking me over. Said demigod put a hand to her forehead. "I never want to do that again," she gasped, swaying and blinking. "This Wizarding stuff is making my head hurt."

"Ditto," said a new voice, right behind Thalia. She jumped and turned, facing a smirking Nico. "Gotcha."

"You little—" It probably would've gotten pretty bad, but Mrs. Weasley came out of nowhere and ushered us to the train doors. Harry, Ron and Hermione waited there, but disappeared into the train when Mrs. Weasley motioned for them to go ahead. Thalia, Nico and I were about to follow suit when Mrs. Weasley stopped us.

She looked at each of us in turn, her expression deadly serious. "Keep them safe, demigods."

I blanched, throwing panicked glances at Nico and Thalia, who were doing the same. "But—how—" I began, but Mrs. Weasley held up a hand.

"Yes, I know about you. Dumbledore saw it fit to tell me. The only other person that knows your true identity is Professor McGonagall."

I breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there I thought we had completely failed the quest before it even officially began. I nodded to Mrs. Weasley. "We will." Right as I said that, I internally flinched. The last time I had promised someone I would keep their family member safe, she ended up getting killed by a huge metal statue. I shot a glance at Nico, but his attention was turned to Mrs. Weasley and he didn't notice. Mrs. Weasley smiled at us and motioned for us to hop on board the train. I turned to get on, but was stopped when she cried out and flung her arms around me and nearly squeezed the life out of me. She did the same to Thalia and Nico. Thalia managed a forced smile, even though her eyes smoldered. Nico just went very stiff and his face turned beet red.

Molly Weasley stepped back and waved while the three of us got all the way into the Hogwarts Express. We shared a look, and looked down the aisle, which was full of young wizards and witches laughing and fooling around. Every one of whom we would have to lie to. "I wonder if this is how Hannah Montana felt," I mumbled.

We started forward, and, after a while of aimless wandering, we found an empty compartment and collapsed as the train started moving. I sighed and looked out the window as we exited the station. Our quest—our _real _quest—had begun.


	7. A Most Unfortunate Attack

**Yay! I updated in under a month! Whoop! Anyway, not a long chapter, but we've got some dementor action! Also, I FINISHED SEASON SIX OF DOCTOR WHO AND SEASON SEVEN DOESN'T COME TO NETFLIX UNTIL THE FALL WHAT DO I DO WITH MY LIFE**

**So you have that crisis to thank for this here chapter. Though I did rewatch a couple season 4 episodes. When I saw 10 again, my heart just went BOOOOOOOM! And exploded. I freaked out. My parents think I'm insane. Oh well.**

**Also, an answer to the question asked by TheNorwegianAuthor: Nico couldn't shadow-travel because he didn't know what the platform looked like, so he couldn't envision it. Also, they would probably have magical wards around it to keep people from doing things like shadow-traveling onto the platform. Hope that answers your question!**

**DISCLAIMER: If I had as much power as J.K. and Rick, I would kick down Steven Mofatt's door and make him pay for tearing my heart into pieces. Sadly, I don't have as much power as them, so I can't. GET THE PICTURE?**

**7. A Most Unfortunate Attack**

**HARRY**

Ron, Hermione and I walked down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, greeting old friends and looking for an empty compartment. Once we had gone the full length of the train, we found one that was mostly empty, except for a man asleep in the corner. Everywhere else was full, so we slipped inside as quietly as we could hoping we wouldn't wake him. "I wonder who that is," Ron said, looking at the sleeping man.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione replied immediately. Ron looked annoyed.

"How do you know everything?" he marveled. "Harry, how is it Hermione knows everything?"

Hermione sighed. "It's on his suitcase, Ronald."

Both Ron and I looked up and, surprise, there was the Professor's name on his suitcase. "Oh, yeah," Ron mumbled, settling into his seat.

I glanced at Professor R.J. Lupin. "Do you think he's really asleep?"

Hermione nodded. "Seems to be. Why?"

I stood up and closed the compartment doors. "I've got to tell you something."

oOo

Both Ron and Hermione were silent for a moment after I explained my encounter with Mr. Weasley that had happened earlier that day. See, he had walked outside with me just before everybody got into the car. He had told me the Ministry didn't want me to know that a nefarious killer, Sirius Black, had escaped Azkaban to try and kill me. He was a big supporter of Voldemort, and had been sent to Azkaban for 12 years for the murder of 13 innocent muggles. He would've been there his whole life, but he escaped. The first wizard ever to do so. And he was coming after me.

Ron was still having trouble processing the information. "So, let me get this straight. Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban to come after you?"

I nodded.

"But Black could never get into Hogwarts," Hermione protested. "Dumbledore must know about this."

"I hope," I sighed, looking at the rain pouring outside. All of a sudden, the train came to a screeching halt. I rocked forward in my seat, but the professor next to me didn't wake.

I heard everyone else on the train start talking at once, looking out of their compartments for the cause of the stop. "Why are we stopping?" Hermione asked, tension in her voice. "We can't be there yet."

Ron put his hand on the window and looked out. Suddenly, the lights flickered off. "I think," Ron whispered, "I think someone's coming aboard." There was a crackling noise, and I stared as the glass on the window became frosted with ice. The air seemed to have dropped thirty degrees in about 10 seconds. Suddenly, the whole train rocked back and forth. "Bloody hell!" Ron yelled. "What's happening?"

I felt a prickling sense of dread crawl up my spine, and I stared at the door to the compartment. I froze in fear as a skeletal hand appeared on the other side of the glass, making a pulling motion. The door slid open, and the owner of the hand was revealed. It was a cloaked figure, hood pulled up, the face a pit of darkness. The robes floated around it in nonexistent wind, and just looking at the creature recalled the darkest things in me: a cold, high-pitched laugh I heard in my dreams; my mother's scared face right before she was killed. I went rigid as the creature leaned toward me, seeming to be inhaling.

The last things I remember seeing before passing out were a bright light, and, for some reason, Percy's face behind the cloaked figure. He seemed to be yelling something, but his words were lost in the horrible scream that filled my ears.

oOo

I woke to the smell of chocolate and the feeling of my glasses digging into the side of my face. I blink a few times and got up, trying to adjust my eyes to the light. A man sat in front of me, holding out some milk chocolate. He was smiling, and I recognized him as Professor Lupin, the man who had been sleeping in our compartment. "Here, eat this, it'll help," he said, once again offering me the chocolate. "It's all right, it's chocolate." I took it from him, but didn't take a bite.

I glanced warily at the door, waiting for the cloaked thing to come back. "What was that thing that came?" I asked, adjusting my glasses.

"It was a dementor," Professor Lupin responded, a hint of contempt in his voice. "It was searching the train for Sirius Black. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to have a little word with the driver."

Once he left, I turned to Ron and Hermione. "What happened to me?"

"Well, you sort of went rigid," Ron answered. "We thought you were having a fit or something."

"And did either of you two, you know, pass out?"

"No." Ron looked at his feet. "I felt weird, though. Like I'd never be cheerful again."

Just then I recalled the sound I had heard just before passing out. "Someone was screaming," I said. "A woman."

Hermione shook her head, looking concerned. "No one was screaming, Harry."

I bit my lip and looked out the window. "But Percy, I saw Percy behind the dementor. He was yelling something."

Hermione looked at Ron, who nodded. "Yeah," he said. "All three of them sort of appeared behind the dementor, and Percy yelled 'Get away from him!', then Lupin woke up and blasted it with light and it went away."

I squinted, still looking out the window, trying to see something. Anything. Just as I was looking away, I thought I saw something move, just in the corner of my vision. A shape a little bit darker than the rest. Before I could make out what it was, Hermione spoke. "But, where did the Americans go? And how did they get there? Percy looked genuinely worried when you passed out. It took Professor Lupin quite a while to get them to leave, you know."

I shrugged. I just really wasn't in the mood for deep thinking right now. "I dunno. Maybe they're just nice people who want to help."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. I could faintly hear Ron mumble, "That's what they want you to think" and I rolled my eyes.

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Hermione cleared her throat and said, "I think we'll be there soon. We should get our robes on." So, we all changed, and sure enough, I could see the lights of Hogwarts castle coming into view. Rain was still pouring down as we mounted the horseless carriages and rattled along up to the castle. I looked and Ron, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing: this was much better than flying the car into the Whomping Willow (long story, not the right time).

As we entered Hogwarts, I caught a glimpse of Percy, Thalia, and Nico, who weren't really hard to miss, being a head taller than the First Years. For a second I wondered what they were doing there. They were in the Third Year; they should be coming with us! But then I realized they needed to be sorted. I wondered what houses they would be put in. I secretly hoped that at least one would be in Gryffindor. They seemed like interesting people.

I lost my view of them as I was swept into the Great Hall, and I did my best to get to the Gryffindor table. I took a seat between Ron and Hermione, and watched as everyone else came in. Just as the Second to Seventh Years had settled, the doors to the Hall burst open, and in marched the First Years (plus the Americans). I found them right away, all looking very uncomfortable in their robes. Nico looked more depressed than usual, and Thalia was scowling and pulling at the gray fabric of her skirt. Percy's gaze flicked around the room, and for a moment, he locked eyes with me. He seemed to give me a quick once-over, and then nodded slightly, as if in approval. Then he began looking around again, his hands playing with his robes the whole time.

All the new students got to the front of the hall in front of the teacher's table, where the Sorting Hat's stool was. I could see the Americans all look at each other apprehensively as McGonagall placed the hat on the seat. For a moment, everything was quiet. Then the hat began to sing.

**Oooooh! I know! Cliffie! I'm so bad! But I might even get the next chapter to you either later today or tomorrow! Yay! Try not to get used to it, though. I tend to trick people into thinking I'm a good updater. Aha...aha...ha...no.**

**Question for all you Whovians! Who's your favorite Doctor? 9, 10, or 11?**

**-HorseHat out**


	8. A Hat Questions My Life Choices

**Hi! I know what you're thinking: She updated? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? But I'm trying to be better. For a short time, at least. I'm still on a Doctor Who hangover...if that's the right way to look at it. Also, lots of people asked me who my favorite Doctor was. I've gotta say 10. David is just the best. But Matt is also just insanely cute...especially in his fez! And Chris, well, he's just Chris. Fantastic!**

**Now here we have the Sorting! Hope y'all enjoy!**

**I OWN NUFFIN'**

**8. A Hat Questions My Life Choices**

**NICO**

I slouched my shoulders as Professor McGonagall herded us into the huge main room. There were four long tables, where a bunch of kids in black robes sat. I could notice a slight difference between all of them; at each table, their scarves were two colors. One table had navy and yellow, another blue and purple, then silver and green, and red and gold. The talking went down to a murmur as we processed to the front.

We all stopped in front of a rickety old stool, fanning out so everyone could see. McGonagall went off to the side for a moment, and then returned with something old and dirty in her hands. She set it on the stool, where it sat for a moment. That gave me time to realize what it was: a hat. An old, dusty, pointed wizard's hat. I looked around the hall, and everyone was watching it expectantly, like it was going to do a flip or something.

What it really did was much more surprising than a flip.

The hat started to _sing._ And this is what it said:

_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can top them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a steady mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

Ooooooookay. Singing hat that sorts people into houses. Why not, right? After the hat finished it's little performance, Professor McGonagall held up a scroll and began announcing names. "Altman, Jack!" A First Year boy with curly brown hair broke apart from the crowd and scrambled onto the stool. McGonagall then placed the hat on his head. After about three seconds, the hat bellowed, "SLYTHERIN!"

'Altman, Jack' jumped off the stool and ran to the table that was cheering, who had scarves in the colors green and silver and logos of snakes on their robes. McGonagall rattled off a few more names. 'Bartlett, Natalie' went to Hufflepuff, 'Beakes, Celestina' went to Ravenclaw, 'Carpenter, Caroline' went to Gryffindor, and 'Corrigan, Jackson' went to Ravenclaw. I knew that the D's were next. My fist clenched and unclenched, and I bit my lip as Professor McGonagall raised the scroll once more. "Di Angelo, Nico!" she called.

Okay.

My turn.

I walked up to the stool as confidently as I could, and sat down in the seat. The hat was set onto my head, and it fell down so my eyes were partially covered. I could see Percy in the crowd giving me a thumbs-up. Then I heard the hat's voice in my head. _A demigod, eh? _I bit my lip. This hat was digging around in my head. What's going to keep it from shouting my identity out and forsaking the whole quest?

The hat must've heard my thoughts, because it responded, _It's okay lad. I've seen your type before. Now, let's see, demigods have always been hard to place…_Then, I got a feeling that was kind of like if someone dumped all your thoughts into an empty swimming pool, then dove right in and looked at every single one.

That is to say, not fun.

First were the memories of my mother, which were few and made my heart wrench with sadness. Then the hat sped up, going through the Lotus Casino, Westover Hall, meeting Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia, losing Bianca to the Hunters, Camp Half-Blood, then the Labyrinth, seeing Percy at Geryon's ranch, banishing Minos, fighting in the Battle of the Labyrinth, the Underworld, Percy bathing in the Styx, the Battle of Manhattan. All my memories resurfaced. My head felt like it was going to explode.

_Hmm, been through a lot, I see? _The hat said in my mind. _Son of Hades as well. You're a tricky one. Not loyal enough for Hufflepuff, not smart enough for Ravenclaw. _I rolled my eyes. I was having my intelligence assessed by a talking hat. _I think…yes, I think one thing just slightly tips the balance. I think you would do well in…GRYFFINDOR!_

The hat said the last bit out loud. The people with the gold and red scarves erupted into cheers. I got off the stool quickly and walked over. There were some free seats near Harry, Ron and Hermione, so I took one and made sure there was room for two other people. I looked back at the stool, silently willing the hat to put my friends in Gryffindor.

**THALIA**

I glanced back a Nico, sitting at the table with Harry, Ron and Hermione. I hoped that all three of us would get the same house.

I turned to Percy. "What do you think it's gonna be like?" I whispered to him. He shrugged.

"Dunno." His eyes flicked around the room nervously.

We looked back at McGonagall as she consulted the scroll again. "Grace, Thalia!" I immediately went stiff. Oh, no she didn't. I glared at the professor and marched straight up to her and whispered in her ear, "Use my last name again, and I swear to all the gods…" I let the threat hang in the air. She knew I was a demigod, so I assumed she knew who my father was. A flicker of something crossed McGonagall's face, I didn't know what, but otherwise her gaze was still the same.

I turned away from the professor and took my place on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat firmly on my head, and I waited for it to start digging around in my head. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the hat started to speak in my head. _Another one, then? Daughter of Zeus? We've got some powerful ones…_Then the hat proceeded to look into every nook and cranny there was in my brain. Let me give you the short version: Luke and Annabeth, dying and turning into a tree, waking up, Westover Hall, the Sun Chariot, Camp, the quest for Artemis, becoming a huntress, my adventures with Lady Artemis, the Battle for Manhattan, coming to Hogwarts. My mind was reeling once that was over. I swayed a little on the stool and gripped the edge tightly.

_This is interesting, _the hat blurted in my head. _Died, became a tree, came back to life…_I sighed. It always took so much work to explain the whole tree thing. But the hat didn't give me a chance. _Well, from what I see here, I think the house best for you is…GRYFFINDOR!_

After the hat shouted the same thing it had for Nico, I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I jumped off the stool and sauntered over to the table with the gold and red people and took a seat next to Nico. "It's so weird, it getting into you mind like that," I told him once I had sat down. He nodded, and then gestured toward the front, where Percy remained among the rest of the First Years.

**PERCY**

Glancing back at Thalia and Nico, I silently prayed to the gods that I would get Gryffindor. And if not there, anywhere but Slytherin, the one with all the mean looking people. I looked up as 'Horn, Ella', a redheaded girl with very pale skin, was sorted into Hufflepuff.

My stomach clenched nervously. I wasn't the brightest bulb of the bunch, but I do know the alphabet. I knew that my name would be coming up soon. And, sure enough, just after 'Jackson, Benjamin' was sorted into Slytherin, my name was called.

"Jackson, Perseus!" I flinched. I hated when people used my real name. It made me feel like they already knew everything about me. Nevertheless, I stumbled forward and sat on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on my head. I nearly jumped right off the little seat when I heard the hat speak in my mind, _Son of Poseidon, eh? Good ones, those are. Not as arrogant or vengeful as Zeus, not as bitter as Hades. Just in between. I remember the first person with godly blood at Hogwarts, great-great grandson of Poseidon…_

"Can you please just get to sorting me?" I said as quietly as I could, not wanted anyone but the hat to hear.

_Right, right, yes, _came its voice in my mind. _Let's see, plenty of loyalty, oh that's your fatal flaw, might want to stay away from that, very, _very _brave, I see, not all too bright…_

"Hey!" I breathed.

_Sorry, but it's true. You're smart in other situations, sometimes. Just not book smart enough for Ravenclaw. Now, let's have a look at your memories…_

I'll spare you the run-through. Let's just say it involved a lot of pain. Then, the hat did something unexpected.

_No more Curse of Achilles? _It asked out of the blue.

"Uh, no," I whispered back. "I gave it up."

_I'll be the judge of that, _It began, and before I could do anything, one of the pieces of old fabric the hat was made of slashed across my arm, giving me a cut that began to bleed immediately, though no one could see the blood because of my robes. _So it is true, _the hat mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah! Now could you please just _sort me?"_

_Fine, _the Sorting Hat consented. _Well, it takes a lot of bravery to do something like give up the Curse of Achilles, or get it, for that matter. There is only one house at Hogwarts fit for you, young demigod. I say, GRYFFINDOR!_

The Gryffindor table burst out cheering, and I stumbled off the stool, wanting to get as far away from the hat as possible. My arm stung, but I barely felt it as I slid into a seat next to Thalia. Nico sat on the other side of her, and we all did a three-way fist bump. "The hat felt weird, right?" Thalia whispered.

"Yeah," I responded. "It gave me a cut just to make sure I didn't have the Achilles Curse any more." Thalia nodded, smiling slightly. Then I pointed to one of the heads that was higher than the rest in the First Year group that was still waiting to be sorted, eager to change the subject. "She's tall," I said. Thalia nodded sarcastically.

"I noticed, thank you," She whispered back.

"Kilgallon, Mairead!" McGonagall called, and the tall girl stepped forward and sat on the stool.

"Cool name," I said to Thalia. "Sounds kind of Irish." She gave me a weird look, but said nothing. Mairead was sorted into Gryffindor, and she stepped off the stool to go over our table, taking her brown hair out of its ponytail as she went. I joined in on the cheering as Mairead sat down at the end of our table smiling at some people who were in the First Year as well.

Some of the other new Gryffindors were 'Spain, Mahaylie', 'Shorr, Anika', and 'Wesland, Finn'. They all sat with the other First Years. I meanwhile sat staring at my plate, waiting for food to magically appear. I looked up, however, when an old man stepped up to the front of the hall. "Welcome, welcome, to another year at Hogwarts! And now, with a few words, before we become too befuddled by our excellent feast." I shot a glance at Thalia, who smiled. I knew what she was thinking. _Befuddled? _Really? The man continued, "You may have noticed, that among the First Year students, we have three other newcomers. They are part of a new Hogwarts Exchange program with Delphi School of Magic in America, and I hope you will all join me in welcoming them."

There was a bunch of cheering and people craning their heads to get a better look at us. After raising his hand to stop the murmuring, the old man (who I was beginning to assume was Dumbledore) continued. "Can you also join me in welcoming our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor R.J. Lupin!" He swept his hand backward, and he man who had made that cloaked figure get away from Harry on the train stood up and waved modestly. "I am also pleased to inform you that the post of Care of Magical Creatures shall now be taken up by none other than our very own Rubeus Hagrid!" He gestured to the enormous man who had led us (along with the First Years) to the boats that we took to get to Hogwarts. He stood up, bumping the table with his legs, and waved. Dumbledore quieted down the cheering with a wave of his hand.

"I also must inform you that this year Hogwarts will be playing host to the dementors of Azkaban, who will be searching the grounds for Sirius Black. But be warned, give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving." A chill ran through the room as every single student shuddered. "But remember: happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times. When one only remembers, to turn on the light."

And with that, one of Dumbledore's candles ignited and the food magically appeared like I'd been waiting for. But, all of a sudden, I didn't feel quite as hungry.

**OKAYYY**

**Just something to let you guys know, Mairead or any of the other names I put in there aren't major characters. They may or may not come back into the story, but try not to give them any regard.**

**Doctor Who question: Who's your favorite companion? (Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Rory, River, or Clara?) Least favorite?**

**Until next time,**

**-HorseHat out**


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